How many guns are in your suburb?

NSW residents can now find out how many firearms are in their suburb and how many people own those guns, revealing a worrying number of private arsenals.

Should Australia toughen gun laws?00:47:18

Sky News host Rita Panahi has suggested gun laws need to be tougher after John Edwards shot dead his two teenage children before killing himself in July. Olga Edwards, the 36-year-old mother of the teens, was found dead inside her home this week, less than six months after her two children were killed. While Australia has some of the toughest gun laws in the world, Ms Panahi says there is still more to be done. 'Maybe those kids would have had a chance if John Edwards wasn't armed with a gun,' she says. Support from these organisations is available for anyone who may be feeling distressed. SANE Helpline: 1800 187 263 Lifeline: 13 11 14 Beyond blue: 1300 224 636

14 Dec 2018

5 months

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With the 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre approaching on April 28, NSW residents can now find out exactly how many guns are in the homes of their neighbours.

The NSW Greens obtained revealing data through Freedom of Information applications to the NSW Police, which shows that more than 100 postcodes contain over 2,400 guns each, and nine that contain more than 10,000 guns in total.

And now you can access these confronting figures through the Toomanyguns.org website.

The Kidspot office was shocked when we punched in our own postcodes to discover not only how many guns are in our suburbs - but also how many people own multiple firearms.

In the postcode 2015 - which covers Alexandria, Beaconsfield and Eveleigh in Sydney's inner west - there are a staggering 1406 guns, a large number for an area that has no farming or hunting areas. In Tweed Heads on the state's north coast there are 1445.

'Information is powerful'

More than 10,000 people jumped onto the site in the first 24 hours after launching on Sunday. And another 10,000 more people since then.

“It has generated very strong interest - and that's because for the first time ever you can actually find out how many guns are in your locality," Greens MP David Shoebridge tells Kidspot.

"When it comes to law reform that information is powerful.”

A nine-month tussle

However, accessing the the vast and detailed information was no easy feat.

“We had a nine month tussle with the NSW Firearms Registry under FOI laws."

Mr Shoebridge says the aim of releasing these stats was not to single out individual people.

“There are a good many angry online comments that suggest we have breached people’s privacy but we were very conscious of that and that’s why we always felt sharing the data on a postcode basis was best - and not individual names or addresses,” he says.

It is 20 years on April 28 since Martin Bryant killed 35 people in Port Arthur with a semi-automatic rifle.

Calls for a review on gun laws

Following the horror that unfolded when Martin Bryant killed 35 people with a semi-automatic rifle in Port Arthur on 28 April 1996, the government changed gun laws banning automatic and semi-automatic weapons.

It was also made a requirement in the historic National Firearms Agreement that people must establish they have a “genuine reason” for accessing a firearms licence and a “good reason” to acquire a firearm.

However, The Greens say it’s time for a review of the laws to address the loophole which allows people to own as many guns as they like as long as they're registered.

New rules for owners with five or more guns

David Shoebridge said although his party accepts that there are people in the community who have a genuine reason to own a gun, the law needs to be tightened.

“Farmers on rural properties often require firearms for euthanising injured stock or controlling wild invasive animals. Target shooting at a registered gun club is also a long-recognised and legitimate sport,” he says on his website.

“However it is impossible to see how any one citizen can establish a ‘genuine’ or ‘good reason’ to have dozens, or even hundreds of guns.”

The Greens are calling for a reform where in order for a person to own five or more guns they have to establish “a separate and extraordinary reason” for owning each additional gun.

Greens MP David Shoebridge says people should only be allowed to access five or more guns under special circumstances.

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